Aldershot Town announce new first-team manager
It's after the club sacked Danny Searle with just one win from seven to start the season
Aldershot Town FC have announced the appointment of Mark Molesley as first-team manager, on a deal until the end of the 2022-23 season.
The 40 year-old former Weymouth and Southend boss will be assisted by the returning Terry Brown and also Tom Prodomo as Assistant Manager, with Brown completing Molesley’s management team in a separate role to Prodomo.
It comes after Danny Searle left the role, following a decision by the club's board, with the Shots winning just one of their first seven matches of the season.
The club also sits in the National League relegation zone.
This decision also sees former Assistant Manager Anwar Uddin leave the club too, and the Shots say they would also like to place on record their sincere thanks to Anwar and his efforts during his time with Aldershot Town too.
Upon his appointment, Mark Molesley said: “I’m delighted to be back at a club that is very close to my heart.
“My dream came true when I became a professional footballer at this club and I would be lying if I never thought of going back to the club as a manager.
“I just think any success I have ever been involved in has been built around great people and speaking to the Chairman and seeing some familiar faces, I know that there’s good people at this football club who want the same things I do.
“My connection with the club is the reason I wanted to come back and I can’t wait to get started.”
Aldershot Town Chairman Shahid Azeem added: “Firstly, we want to thank Danny and Anwar for his commitment to the club during a difficult period as previously mentioned, but despite this, there were successful periods during his tenure too and we are grateful for his efforts.
“But we’re excited for the future with Mark and Terry returning to the club and looking forward to seeing them returning to The EBB Stadium.
“If you look at Mark’s managerial career, he’s had success with Weymouth before, earning him a move to the league and not only that, they’ve been here before on and off the pitch, so they know the history of the football club and they know what it means to the club and also to the supporters too.
“We want everyone to get back supporting the new management team and let’s hope for a successful season.”
Terry Brown said: “I’m absolutely thrilled and excited to be back at The EBB Stadium.
“My role is to work alongside the board to ensure that we have plans in place for our long-term future, I’m delighted to be able to bring Mark Molesley into the management position here.
“He’s an absolutely perfect person for the role here, he’s had successful spells with Bournemouth u23s working his way under Eddie Howe, then having first-team experience and winning promotion with Weymouth into the National League, then took an impossible task at Southend, working in an extremely difficult environment.
“Mark will bring in with him in his own staff, Tom Prodomo who he’s worked with before and that management team is an extremely ambitious team that aspire to be Football League managers in the near future.”
Molesley rejoins the club in a managerial role, having previously become something of a cult hero for The Shots during his playing days, scoring important goals against local rivals Woking FC back in 2014 and the infamous goals that earned Aldershot Town an FA Cup replay back in the same year, before scoring the winner in the replay at The EBB Stadium just 10 days later.
After beginning his managerial career with stints within Bournemouth’s youth systems, Molesley enjoyed great success in charge of now-Vanarama National League side Weymouth FC.